Elite Contracting Solutions LLC

I found Elite Contracting Solutions on Angie's List. I was looking for a contractor to do an addition to a garage apartment on my property. I was impressed with reviews of other rowhome projects that had been done by Elite in my area. I initially called on February 3. I left a message on an answering machine and received a call back within a couple of hours saying that the owner would call me back and asking for two possible dates during the week of February 10-14 when we could meet with him at our home. This was the end of communication with Elite. We never heard from them again. Finally we called back on February 18. The person who answered the phone (no answering machine this time) "apologized" and said we would hear back within an hour from the owner. Luckily we are not holding our breath. While we understand that the weather in our area has been challenging during the month of February, we are incredulous that we never heard from anyone. We did mention in both of our calls that we got their name from Angie's List.

I actually started planning to redo our master bath back in 2012 and developed a Statement of Work that I gave to various contractors starting in 4Q2012. I initially believed that the work could be done for <$15K and interviewed and got bids from about 7 contractors. At the end of the process I realized the costs for what I wanted would be closer to $20K (some bids were much higher), but just as important as price was finding an honest company that wouldn’t nickel and dime me for small changes or gouge me if unexpected issues turned up (which they always do in a project of this magnitude). I was also looking for someone who would allow me to shop for and acquire products and materials (I’m an avid shopper and this was one way I believe I could manage the overall costs). This project ultimately led me to sign up for Angie’s list. However, I was dissatisfied with the initial vendors I contacted for various reasons (One low bidder wouldn’t honor the Angie’s list discount and the pricing for his change orders was suspect. One contractor wanted to include everything and opted not to bid. And one contractor had a questionable BBB history.) Despite the few reviews on Angie’s List, I contacted Elite Contracting, and I was very impressed with Karl Nunn during our first meeting. He was extremely flexible, was obviously very process oriented which appealed to me, and had a very rational and fair perspective on dealing with change orders and unforeseen issues that might arise during the project. I was therefore very disappointed when his initial bid placed him over my limit. I called and told him that he was a few thousand over what I had budgeted. He then reviewed his estimate, found a mistake in his calculations, and actually let me review his detailed estimate (that was an eye opener). Once the error was removed, Karl became the low bidder and I was convinced that I had found a truly honest contractor, an impression that has only strengthened over the course of the project. The project took a couple weeks longer than was originally planned, and Karl was quick to accept responsibility for not doing a better job on estimating the time to do the tile work. The delay was not a big deal for me, particularly in light of the quality work that was being performed and the many extras that were done, most at no charge. Chris Parker was the project manager who did most of the work and I can’t say enough about his knowledge, skill and desire to do things to make the job perfect for me. One item I had on my wish list was to expand the shower by about 1 foot, but estimates for that ranged up to $2,000 and I had resigned myself living with the existing space. Chris and Karl did the work on a change order for $450 even though Chris had to knock out and rebuild a closet wall and swap the plumbing over to the opposite wall. Some of the other “pleasant surprises” that Chris and Karl provided were: (i) removal and adjustment of a pocket door at no additional labor charge (this was a lot of work!); (ii) installing light dimmers in the hallway at a nominal cost (again, this turned out to be complex); (iii) finding an exquisite remnant of relatively rare granite from Karl’s supplier which I was able to buy at a lower cost than I had budgeted (iv) extending the bathroom vent through the roof for a very nominal cost (this was one of several “unforeseen” issues that arose). (v) getting me a very good deal on the tile that was installed. Left on my own, I’m sure I would have incurred another $1,000 on tile. There were of course a couple of problems along the way. One of the contractors dropped a hammer and chipped the tub. Karl offered to repair the tub at no charge to me of course, but he also proposed having the entire tub reglazed as well, and agreed to pay a portion of that cost. This turned out to be a win for me, since I really needed to have that done but probably wouldn’t have without the subsidy. Another issue was that the granite was poorly installed and one of the backsplashes was cracked and poorly repaired. Karl brought the owner of the granite company out to review my concerns and in the end repairs were made to my satisfaction. Another issue was that the glass shower door that I bought online was damaged in shipment. Karl used his contacts at Home Depot to help expedite the delivery of a new door (even though he hadn’t been involved in the purchase). Later on, when I expressed concern about the installation of the door, he brought in his “specialists” who reinstalled the door at no cost (not sure that that was really needed since the adjustment was rather minor). This review is longer than I wanted, and I hope that I have conveyed the high esteem that I have for Karl Nunn. He’s one of the fairest businessmen I’ve ever met, honest as the day is long, and has a true sense of what customer satisfaction means. I will call Karl first for any future projects, and recommend that those of you looking for the best contractor for these types of projects do likewise.

I initially contacted Elite Contracting to repair some minor hurricane damage to the exterior of the house. When they came to do the estimate I also got an estimate from them for a complete bathroom remodel of our master bathroom. While their estimate was neither the lowest nor the highest I chose them because I felt like they had a better understanding of what I wanted to accomplish with the bathroom. Karl Nunn was great to work with and seemed to be on the same page as me when it came to the design of the bathroom. They did a complete demo of the old bathroom (old as in 1932 old! Plaster walls, cement and subway tiles half way up the walls!). I purchased the tile, fixtures, vanity, cabinets, etc. They provided the labor and construction materials (drywall, etc.). While there were some minor hiccups along the way (some tiles had to be redone, including the pebble floor in the shower) that is to be expected with any major renovation. Bottom line: Karl wasn't satisfied until my wife and I were happy with the final product. We now have a bathroom that looks like it came out of a magazine! All of our friends and family are blown away with the bathroom. Elite Contracting was able to turn my vision into reality and we couldn't be happier.

My experience was obviously very good - I've added them to the list of contractors I work with regularly. Very knowledgable and good at the "nuts and bolts" of what they do, which is essential and naturally the most important consideration when selecting a GC. Pricing has always been fair. I've always used them for major projects, but I understand that for smaller residential projects they have excelent protocols in place to ensure that no damage is done to the rest of the house, and that they are as considerate as possible of everything the client has going on in the home. (ie, wearing protective foot coverings, using appriate care when bringing marterials and tools through the home.) It's on the intangibles like customer service and assistance with formulating ideas, however, that they really set themselves apart. Both the principle (Karl Nunn) and his entire staff have always been unfailinglu polite and quick to respond. The biggest "value added" is that Karl is exceptionally good with design and ideas, and has excellent taste himself. He's come up with some creative solutions to things I'd never have thought of - solutions that worked, solved the problem, and often added substantially to the look of the finished project. If you're at all unsure of what you're looking for in a remodel, he's an excellent resource and idea person as well as a throughly competent contractor.

From the beginning, the experience went well. My first phone call resulted in a prompt polite response and that set the tone for the entire project. My first meeting with Elite's owner, Karl, along with his lead project manager gave me confidence that I found the right company to do this project. Before signing the contract, I met with Karl many times as we reviewed my needs and wants. Karl listened carefully and complemented my vision with his own expertise. I had some specific ideas and some general notions of what the finished project would become, but I didn't have a clue as to how to get there. Elite showed me how and worked closely with me throughout the months-long project to ensure that every option was explored and executed. The fantastic finished project speaks for itself.I continued to live in the house during demolition and re-build. Every effort was made to ensure minimal disruption even as walls came down and power was turned off in parts of the house. As the rebuild began I could see the new design take shape. Karl was there at every step tp ensure everything was going well. My comfort with the process and the work continued as I worked with Elite on design updates and changes and the addition of custom work. All along the way my questions were answered and the scope of work changed as the design build took shape. All of my updates as the project continued were met with professiomalism and enthusiasm.The finished product is truly beyond my expectations and I couldn't be happier living in such a beautiful home. But what stands our for me is how much I enjoyed working with Elite. Customer service is #1 with them and it is exhibited in their responsiveness. Every call was answered promptly, every issue resolved pleasantly. Elite acted as a true partner in my project and I feel fortunate to have found them.

They were very hard to get a hold of - not returning voice or emails. I finally got a hold of the owner and he claimed that I never left him a voice mail. They did schedule a time slot and were the only contractor that we met that called and rescheduled to a different time, but things do happen. He said several time that he thought he was doing a complete remodel, which I never told him - This was a 203k job - he didn't seem interested at the site and we asked him several time if he was still interested and he kept saying that he was. He also comes off as a little elite to use his own name. He said that he used to do high-end remodels, but was forced to move to rehabs with the recession, a move he didn't seem happy about. Well to make a long story short we never heard from him and I left both him and his office partner messages several times. Then several days later, his partner called and said that they were not going to quote out the job because they were too busy. This was a complete waste of my time as well as his, the home owner, my relator's, etc... As flaky as his contact were, should of been a warning - he also mentioned that he would not be the cheapest and used several threats/warnings about our other contractors and what they would all do wrong that he would not. Simple lesson here, doesn't return messages, over compensates, and beats down others - stay away!!

They were professional and it was a good experience. I never used them because it was a little on the high side. They came out, they called a couple of times because he got delayed. He called and rescheduled, I was sitting outside waiting for him when he showed up. It was okay because he called and said he was running late. We went through and he took all of his notes. He was going to give me an estimate and he did, but he took a little longer than he anticipated but that was okay, too.

Project went very well overall. Was done in a very timely manner with GREAT quality craftsmanship!!! Guys showed up at 8 am every morning, and worked almost till sundown. They were very polite and cleaned up the entire site before leaving all the time. We had to make some changes in the layout and they worked with us all the way through with no trouble. Was impressed with the over all knowledge of the guys and they were very informative throughout.

The project went very smooth overall. It was a big job and I was impressed with how well they worked around my schedule. I have a small dog and they were very understanding and helpful with dealing with him in the house. The crew was very professional and polite at all times. Karl the owner was very involved in every aspect of the process and always available for any of my needs. I am more than satisfied with my new basement and updated bathroom, the attention to detail really went above and beyond.

Crew arrived promptly and went straight to work. They seemed to have worked together for some time as they interacted very efficiently. They cleaned up every day and removed all debris when the project was complete. Care was taken to see that the lawn/plants were not damaged. The installation is beautiful and the house looks great. One of the company's owners, Karl or Rob, was on-site part of every day. They kept us up-to-date on the job's progress and encouraged us to ask questions if we had any concerns. The crew was great. We laughed and joked with them a lot while they worked. Very good people with a sense of humor and an excellent work ethic.